Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Friday morning after Thanksgiving, Collin woke me up bright and early all excited to get on the road. I moaned and groaned a bit so he let me sleep for another half hour...what a guy. Collin booked a "cabin" for the weekend and we planned to ski for the first time this season! We went to Wolfcreek with Allison last year and it was amazing so we knew we would have fun again this year. Wolfcreek gets more snow than any other place in Colorado and opened WAY before anyone else this year, as usual. Their total snow fall this year to date is already 110"! It is about a 3.5 hour drive so Collin wanted to get going ASAP. We stopped at our apartment to check on Suk and grab our gear and then we were off. I slept most of the way (surprise!) and Collin drove.

Super foggy on the way down...we couldn't see anything

When we got there we were pretty impressed with the "cabin." The pictures online didn't do it any justice. It had the cabin exterior and a few other cabin-y touches but it was really a three bedroom house with a hot tub!

The mountains across the street

Friday night our friends Jake and Mari came down and we went to the old silver mining town of Creede. On our way there, we stopped to check out a herd of big horn sheep that was grazing along the side of the road. There is a nice ram fight scene in my first video!

Their white heiners give them away!

Creede was a very cute town but kind of ghostly too. We stumbled upon the abandoned silver mines while looking for a place to eat dinner. Now, we are planning a trip back to take a tour of all of the mining structures. Very interesting to me.

The fire company garage built into the side of/underneath the mountain

We ended up eating at a place called Tommykockers Tavern. A very "me" kind of place. I love dive bars and this one in particular was playing G. Love (a philly band that I love, as do my best girls from WVU), they had the backyard brawl on (WVU came back to win!!! WOOO!!!!) and they had the closest thing I've had to an east coast hoagie since I've been here. That's an A in my book.

Oh yeah, and a fooze ball table. Winning.

Tommyknocker, by the way, (we looked it up) has a variety of meanings but generally miners used to think that little leprechaun-like creatures would tap on the walls of the mine to warn the miners of an impending cave-in (which was really the earth cracking). Some miners thought the Tommyknockers were good because they gave warning while other miners thought that they were the cause of the cave-ins. Well, there ya go, some random knowledge you'll never need.

And interesting decor

The next morning, Jake and Mari left for Durango to visit with Jake's mom for Thanksgiving weekend and Collin and I headed to Wolfcreek for our first day of the season!

Can't beat a blue bird sky and 110" snow fall in November!

My sweetpea and his new helmet! haha

HI!

We took a few groomers and then headed to the backside. It was awwweeeesooommeee! (as we remembered from last year!) No fresh pow but still lots of snow and the beautiful sun and sky made everything even better! I realized for the xth year that I need new skis. Gonna have to wait for that job thing though. We had a blast ripping through the trees. It was "packed" for Wolfcreek standards. Sunday was a different story though. Our kind of day. We didn't see anyone for run after run...it was fantastic!

Collin took that cliff...I just went down to the right of him!

The PANTS. Clearly need a new jacket but I wanted to test them out anyway. Bad day for testing...50 degrees doesn't tell me if they're going to keep my rear toasty!

Monday, November 28, 2011

We spent Collin's absolute favorite holiday (besides his birthday...which I've told him is not actually a holiday....) in Denver with his sister, brother-in-law, and niece. We had an awesome time!!
I was in charge of desserts for the big feast so on Wednesday while Collin was at work I got a head start. I made Nana's famous pumpkin pie (with my own touch to the crust) and a rustic Meyer lemon tart.

Super easy, delicious, and pretty!

The pumpkin pie:

I decided to add a pretty crust with individual cut-out leaves

I had extra pumpkin filling so I made a mini pie too!

Well, the elevation finally got to me! I had to cook this thing forever and by the time I put foil around the crust it was already pretty dark. And then to top it off, the foil messed up the middle of the pie. I was not happy but it did taste just like Nana's!

The sunset as we were packing the truck for Denver

Wednesday night Allison had her annual Thanksgiving-eve party and it was a blast! She made loads of food and I contributed with my mini-salmon croquettes (from Collin's Alaskan stockpile!) It was open-house style and about 50+ people showed up. It was nice to meet new people and also see some familiar faces.

Alli's friend and a few of the neighbor kiddos

Thursday morning I still had an apple pie to bake but with their apple corer/peeler/slicer gizmo it was super fast and easy! I need to get one of those things!

Collin's favorite

Table set up

Before we started cooking we realized we needed a few more things from the store so Collin ran out and came back with shrimp cocktail and oysters too!! This time he shucked the oysters himself so we knew they were good and fresh. Mmmm, sooooo delicious!
For dinner we made a turkey of course, stuffed with bacon, sage, and butter + butter under the skin...mmm! We also had stuffing, chive and sour cream mashed potatoes, parmesan butternut squash, smashed sweet potatoes w/ candied pecans, green bean casserole, rice salad, corn bread casserole, and homemade gravy...+ my three desserts and another cheesecake!!! We were overwhelmed with food...to say the least!!
Everything looked delicious but before we dug in, Collin made a nice toast to Brennan. Definitely a bitter sweet moment for Collin and Allison.

The spread!

Ready to eat!

Mimosas helped us along!

The face says it all...

Mr. Tini!

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving! Stuffed ourselves full as usual!

I was definitely missing my family that day but having Collin and part of his family here made it much better. We shared lots of laughs, just like I'm used to during family get togethers!! We had so many leftovers and took some with us when we left Friday morning for Wolfcreek and some awesome skiing (that post is next!).

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am always thankful for my amazing family (especially Mr. C who I've been missing more than usual lately), wonderful friends, best friend of a boyfriend, and everyones health and happiness. And of course, Suki girl too!